
The Falkland Islands Government remains, confident that a mutually acceptable outcome can be reached with Rockhopper, on the matter of their tax bill from FIG, confirmed Financial Secretary Nicola Granger last week and indicated the situation would have no impact on local tax laws.

Falkland Oil & Gas is to buy a smaller Falklands-based firm to create a “combination” company with licences to search for oil both to the north and south of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. FOGL said on Thursday it had agreed to buy Desire Petroleum offering 0.6 FOGL “consideration” shares for each Desire share, in a deal valuing Desire at 61 million pounds (99 million dollars).

Chilean residents of the Falkland Islands celebrated at Government House in Stanley their national day and the strong connections between the Islands and Chile.

Argentina’s latest government’s decisions on squid fishing show that the country’s fisheries policy is inconsistent and unsustainable, according to the president of Assistance Food Argentina SA and director of Assistance Food America Inc., Dr. Cesar Augusto Lerena.

The Falkland Islands Tourist Board has released statistics from last season and Managing Director Tony Mason explained that the seasonality of tourism in the Falkland Islands is quite significant, with 65.5% (nearly two-thirds) of all arrivals visiting in the first and last three months of the year (Jan-Mar and Oct- Dec) in 2012.

The Falkland Islands elected Legislative Assembly was dissolved on Thursday by Governor Nigel Haywood in advance of the General Election scheduled to be held on November 7.

Argentina and Spain agreed on Thursday to team up to pressure Britain to discuss their separate claims on British territories: the Falklands in the south Atlantic and Gibraltar near the southern tip of Spain.

Argentine President Cristina Fernández used Tuesday’s speech in before the UN General Assembly to once more criticize British military movements in the South Atlantic, condemning the use of nuclear submarines around the disputed Falklands/Malvinas Islands.

One of the several hydrocarbons companies operating in Falkland Islands waters expects its next drilling phase to begin in the fourth quarter of 2014 with a minimum of two exploration wells following extensive 3D surveying of southern licences in the Diomedea fan complex adjacent to the Darwin discovery.

The new Argentine ambassador before the Organization of American States, OAS, former Defence and Home Security minister Nilda Garré begins her diplomatic job with a main line of action: ‘claiming the Malvinas Islands sovereignty” and the “resumption of negotiations with the UK”.